Table of Contents
Immigration has been an issue of controversy in the United states, political debates have lasted over decades bearing in mind that policymakers must put in consideration humanitarian, economic and security for the states at large. So far, congress a legislative branch of US federal government with the responsibility of amending/making laws and representing American people has failed to reach a consensus on comprehensive immigration reform for years. As a result, Congress has been left with no other alternative but to involve the executive and judicial arms of the government as well as triggering debate in the halls of state and municipal governments, to be part and parcel in moving major policy decision on the controversy of immigration (Derek, 2018).
US president Donald Trump was elected with hope that he would take remarkable actions to cease issue of illegal immigration and bring down problems associated with it such as terrorism, deportation of millions of undocumented immigrants, controversial plans to build border wall on Mexican side. In his reign of presidency, he has scaled back his plans in some areas but pushed with full power in others, consequently drawing legal challenges and public interest.
Immigration Problems
Unlawful immigration into the United States is massive in scale. Approximate of more than 10 million of undocumented foreigners currently stay in the U.S., and that number seems to be increasing by 700,000 per year (Molloy, 2018). On one hand, the presence of so many aliens are a powerful testament to the attractiveness of America. On contrary, it shows how dangerously open our borders are.
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Some illegal aliens come to America primarily for better jobs and in the process add value to the U.S. economy. However, they also take away value by weakening the legal and national security environment. For instance, when three out of every 100 people in America are undocumented (or, rather, documented with forged and faked papers), there is a great possibility of security problem. Even if they don’t pose a direct security threat, the presence of millions of undocumented migrants distorts the law, distracts resources, and effectively creates a cover for terrorists and criminals (Molloy, 2018).
In other terms, the real problem presented by unlawful immigration is mostly happens to be security issue, rather than the supposed threat to the economy. In fact, government efforts to bring down the economic influx as a result of migrants actually worsen the security quandary by driving many migrant workers unnoticed, thereby encouraging the culture of illegality. A non-citizen guest worker program can be a substantive component of securing the border where it seems to be loophole of illegal immigrants, but can be effective only if it is the right program.
It is vital to develop a guest worker program intelligently. Although, there are indefinitely large number of issues involved in such a program, many of which are beyond the scope of this paper, the evidence indicates that worker migration is a net plus economically. With this in mind, there are 14 principles with an eye toward the economic incentives involved that should be included as part of a guest worker program.
According to the latest statistics from US customs and Border Protection (CBP), 396,579 illegal immigrants were detained in prison because of immigrating into the country illegally in 2018. Moreover, another 124,51 aliens were caught at the entry of ports. The largest group of outsiders who presented themselves immigrating to US were found be Mexican men crossing to work, Central-Americans who consisted of unaccompanied teenagers, single parents with children and entire families, crossed the border fleeing extreme conditions of violence. Some families fled their country to US over extreme poverty, series of crop failure due to climatic change and joblessness, Young men fled gang recruitment, persecution by police working with organized crime, and threats of rape and death (Nemeth, 2016). When caught, border patrol sent them back without long term detention or court proceedings. Many crossed into the US country again and again and in the long run succeeded in evading border enforcement. However, in the process many individuals were caught and as a result the number of apprehensions increased rampantly.
Contrary to the case of migrants (adults) immigrating seeking for employment opportunities, families with children and individuals looking for safety cannot be deported mercilessly, such people also referred to as asylum usually takes months and years in immigration court. Current law protects children detention over long duration, while adults are held in custody during the period of legal process. The government can detain families together, but it doesn’t have enough space to hold all of the families now coming (Luscombe, 2019).
Recommendations
The argument over border security and immigration has become toxic because politicians have made it all about their politics. A minor debate has become has gone viral, with a good number of Americans trapped between zealots on both sides in an alley to nowhere. Compromise is no way to cut through intractable divides such as this. Reagan tried that. The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, otherwise known as the Simpson-Mazzoli Act promised enforcement, border security, and legal reforms in exchange providing amnesty to illegal immigrants already here. The compromise didn’t work. Two decades later the problem was worse than before.
Settling disputes over immigration is not like a compromise on other issues. It sabotages the efficacity of border and immigration management. For instance, it makes no sense to pass a law that strengthens border security and on the other hand you are encouraging illegal migration (Krishnadev, 2018).
Dismissing Einstein’s definition of insanity, both George W. Bush and Barack Obama repeated Reagan’s failed formula. Thus, comprehensive efforts failed to get through the legislative process in 2007 and 2013. The flaws of those efforts will be available in any bill that attempt to address too many agendas at the same time. The trade-offs essential to compromise this will peel off potential supporters and certainly bring down the legislation with political and policy problems.
One way to overcome the alleged damnation alley is that the administration concerned, conquer the battle of the political argument, by allowing politics to be put aside and the focus to turn to solution-oriented legislation. In a Manichean world, where the president’s opposition advocates for open borders in all but name, odds are Americans might well opt for Trump. While his rhetoric might be just as extreme as his opponents, in practice his policies have proven far more practical looking. Most Americans are on board with improving border and immigration enforcement, preserving national sovereignty, modernizing the legal immigration system, and improving the wealth and welfare of all Americans.
If Trump wins the political fight, then the last move he should make is to assemble a grand bill that attempts to accomplish all this at once. It would only lavish a mandate. Rather than bundle legal immigration, border security, and enforcement reforms into one comprehensive package, legislation addressing each area should be debated separately, each advancing on its own merit. That’s the best way to keep a pro-immigration and pro-enforcement agenda on track (Carafano, 2019).
Few issue troubles US Congress more than border security and immigration, thus Trump should not be blamed. The controversy on how to United Sates broken borders and defective immigration system raged for two decades before his presidency. This debate can be fixed. Although he happens to be at the center of this controversial, US president Donald Trump still might be the best one to fix the alleged storm, but this will be effective in the event he adopts a comprehensive agenda that mainly focuses on addressing the problems rather than just making a deal. For instance, a real agenda would comprise of: effective border security, and regional engagement, enforcing immigration laws, assimilation, legal immigration reform. However, real reform would mean start with being clear on the ongoing problem in the controversy: for example, what to do concerning those already in the country (US) illegally? Of course, should simply be that people present the united states unlawfully are not entitled to any right to be residents.
A main reason as to why reforms fail is the compulsion to start with most debatable issues. How to deal with high unlawful foreigners residing here in US in huge number seems out of control by enforcing the law, many of them deeply rooted in their communities. The right answer to this should be amnesty. We should not seek for highly demanding in terms of cost – legislative solution that accounts for each individual unlawfully in the US. If lawmakers begin to comprehend the administration won’t point a finger to that, then the steps where process can turn to legislating on the steps where they can agree, and everything is not held to amnesty (Carafano, 2019).
With that put in place, the organization governing can effectively, fairly and humanely handle the illegally residing alien, mitigating the number of foreigners without interfering with amnesty in a manner that actually preserve civil liberty and at the same time eying on security matter of the US, also helps curb future unlawful immigration, and the best interests of all Americans.
There are several appropriate manners to address the illegally residing population in US which includes the following: deportation and removal, removal departure, temporary relief from deportation and cancelation of removal. By segmenting illegally present population and making use of the right tools for the right groups since immigration comprise of different groups as discussed before, the government can well address the problem associated with unlawful immigrants without comprehensive bill or a general amnesty.
Deportation and Removal
There is no reasonable argument behind not evicting foreigners who certain criminal records, it doesn’t matter whether they are violent criminal cases, identity theft, caught possessing prohibited drugs/ trafficking or other commonly referred to as victimless crimes. Furthermore, the government must evict people whose crimes might be limited to just going against the existing immigration laws. It is true that the government does not have the required resources with the capacity to evict every unlawful immigrant, but they must demonstrate that indeed the law does exist and can be obliged – else, the can laws can be regarded as being inefficacious. Consequently, the government authorities responsible should not cease to underscore cities and states collaborating with immigration enforcement and discourage activities such as sanctuary cities and states which seek to cancel federal immigration law and obstruct its enforcement.
Moreover, the administration should emphasize on Congress to provide adequate necessary resources for holding unlawful aliens in custody and more authority to speed up the process of deportation and removal so as optimize on the available space. To be specific, the administration should demand immigration law judges to be given summary judgement authority (Carafano, 2019). The main reason for enormous accumulation in US immigration courts is simply because the immigration courts do not have the summary judgement authority usually available to federal and state court judges. Summary judgement authority is very important in this matter in that allows federal judges to schedule cases that lack legal merit, basing on fact that immigration judges do not have that authority, meritless cases clog the dockets.
Voluntary Departure
U.S law already includes provisions for freedom/grants of voluntary departure. Some may opt to depart the country without a formal application. When unlawful aliens voluntarily leave the country rather than face removal proceedings which would include detention and deportation, this contributes to enforcement through attrition. This is one better, actually strikes a balance securing the country and also preserving civil liberty of the individuals involved since the strategy does not either subject harassment to the victim or deny social services. Moreover, by creating a culture of compliance with U.S. laws, some unlawful immigrants will get to understand the declining perceived value of their illegal presence. Their departure will not only mitigate the illegal present population but could also serve to discourage future unlawful immigration. There are over one million illegal foreigners in the United states who have already been ordered by the courts to depart the country but have not compiled (Caldwell, 2019). At least, the aim of U.S. policy should but await them to seek their voluntary compliance.
Temporary Relief from Deportation
There is nothing wrong, under extenuating circumstances, with allowing illegal aliens to remain present for a period of time for considerable reasons. What is wrong is to try to turn this tool into a chance to evade the enforcement of immigration laws. For example, former President Barack Obama over-reached with his Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. He didn’t consult Congress and there was no end date to so called “temporary”.
What is reasonable is not to change the authority relief from deportation to allow amnesty or a path to citizenship. Any legislation that addresses the status of DACA recipients, persons in the other programs, should not allow open-ended residence in the united states or create a path to citizenship. Temporary relief from deportation or removal should be considerable, defined period. Aliens should be required to reapply for admission to the United states (U.S.) after deportation (Caldwell, 2019).
Cancelation of Removal
The laws allow relief from deportation for a limited number of illegal immigrants in specific circumstances. Congress might consider adjusting the requirements to qualify for cancellation of removal, but only after substantial and sustained reductions in illegal immigration. No program should include an automatic pathway to citizenship. Else, under current law, illegal foreigners who have been unlawfully present in the United states for over one year with the exception of aliens who entered the U.S. before April 1, 1997 and are deported or removed must wait a minimum of ten years before applying for the permission to enter the United States. Again, based on the significant reductions in the illegal immigration, it might also be of importance to adjust this requirement to offer an incentive to illegal immigrants to depart the U.S. at their will and seek to return through lawful immigration or a non-immigrant visa(Carafano, 2019).
Conclusion
Immigration is the movement of people into the foreign country for a variety of reasons. These reasons could be related to job search, education, and lifestyle change or to escape unfavorable conditions in their home countries. It is a matter that has been in the minds of many American leaders. Due to the reasons that lead to immigration, it must be understood as a phenomenon that is meant to be there permanently, rather than temporary movement. Further, most immigrants tend to move into a new country with their families hoping to change their life CITATION Rub06 \l 1033 (Rubin & Melnick , 2006). The problem of immigration, therefore, covers multiple dimensions and is multifaceted. Apart from the mere movement from one country to another, whether seasonal or permanent, immigration issues cover the effects of the permanent residence of the immigrants. The result so described refers to the direct impact of this movement to the economy, and the social life of both the immigrants and the natives. The results could be related to labor uncertainty, as well as unemployment levels that have a direct relationship to the crimes and lawlessness (Rubin & Melnick , 2006).
However, the administration ought to stand up now and declare that these are the tools it will use to address the illegally present population and take the promise of a general amnesty off the table once and for all, then Trump should get about dealing with the other parts of the problem which includes border security, immigration enforcement, legal immigration reform and patriotic assimilation.
References
- Caldwell, B. C. (2019). Deported Americans. Durham: Duke University Press.
- Carafano, J. J. (2019). Ways Trump Can Fix Ameican’s Immigration Problem. Retrieved from The National Interest: https://www.nationalinterest.org/feature/4-ways-trump-can-fix-americans-immigration-problem-45872
- Derek, T. (2018). How Immigration Became So Controversial. Retrieved from The Atlantic: https:/www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/02/why-immigration-divides/552125
- Krishnadev, C. (2018). A Functional Immigration System Would Look Nothing Like America’s. U.S. Immigration Policy Program, 111-117.
- Luscombe, R. (2019). Inside America’s biggest facility for migrants teens. Retrieved from The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/mar/06/immigration-migrant-children-homestead-florida
- Molloy, M. (2018). IS the US in an ‘illegal’ immigration crisis. Retrieved from The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/208/oct/25/us-illegal-border-crossing-analysis-trump-migrants
- Nemeth, C. P. (2016). President Trump’s Executive Orders on Immigration and Refugees. Retrieved from Homeland Security: An introduction to Principles and Practices, Second Edition: https://www.cmsny.org/trumps-executive-orders-immigration-refugees/
- Rubin, R., & Melnick , J. P. (2006). Immigration and Amrican Culture: An Introduction . New York: New York University Press.
